Charging Cavaliers cut down

Cavaliers suffered a nail-biting one-goal defeat to Arrows in their State Netball League second semi-final at the Silverdome yesterday, going down 37-36.

CAVALIERS suffered a nail-biting one-goal defeat to Arrows in their State Netball League second semi-final at the Silverdome yesterday, going down 37-36.

Hawks wing attack Chelsea Coleman in action at the Silverdome in Launceston yesterday.

Arrows got the jump early and had their noses in front most of the match, with Cavaliers fighting hard to come back at different stages, especially in the final quarter, but unable to get over the line.

``We got back level in the last few minutes but Arrows pulled ahead,'' Cavaliers president David Thomas said.

``We had our opportunities but probably didn't play well enough to win.''

Kate Costelloe was outstanding for Arrows in goal, as was Kate Olechowski at goal defence.

Dannie Carstens was Cavaliers' best in defence with some timely intercepts. Kate Gibson at wing attack played strongly and Cath Van Keulen covered a lot of court trying to bring Cavs back into the game.

Cavaliers will now meet Cripps Waratah in Hobart in next week's preliminary final for the right to challenge Arrows in the grand final.

Cavaliers' 19 and unders won 44-35 against Kingston to move straight into their grand final in a fortnight.

Meanwhile, the Northern Hawks had a disappointing end to their season after being eliminated by Cripps in their first semi-final.

The Hawks had won seven straight games to finish fourth and qualify for the finals but could not maintain the momentum, with Cripps leading at every change and holding on to win 43-37 in a hard-fought contest.

``It was a disappointing way to end the season,'' Northern Hawks coach Kellie Woolnough said.

``We had our opportunities and it was a tough defensive game, but we were just disappointed and flat that we couldn't get across the line because we've had a good run home in the last seven weeks.''

Woolnough said she was happy with the way her side fought out the contest with the margin 10 or 11 goals at one stage in the final quarter, which they cut to six before running out of time.

``We beat all the teams above us on the ladder this year and we went in quite positive, but to get this far and fall at the last hurdle is disappointing for everyone.''

Woolnough rated Georgie Briggs and Zoe Gough as their two best players.